The Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM).
The move follows the bill’s reintroduction in late February in the House of Representatives by Reps. Neal Dunn (R-FL) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA).
First introduced by Dunn in February 2023, the bill stalled in a U.S. House committee in October 2024 after it failed to receive the necessary markup to advance to the House floor.
The revised bill “guarantees the rights of owners and their designated repair facilities to maintain and repair their vehicles while maintaining the same cybersecurity standards, intellectual property protections, and vehicle safety standards that the manufacturers use with their dealerships,” said Lisa Foshee, senior vice president of government affairs and general counsel at the Auto Care Association, in an email to Autobody News.
“Big corporations have a history of gatekeeping basic information that belongs to car owners, effectively forcing consumers to pay a fixed price whenever their car is in the shop. The bipartisan REPAIR Act would end corporations’ control over diagnostics and service information and give consumers the right to repair their own equipment at a price most feasible for them,” said Hawley in a statement.
The CAR (Consumer Access to Repair) Coalition, Auto Care Association, MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers, Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN), Preventative Automotive Maintenance Association (PAMA) and NFIB released a statement applauding the introduction the bill in the Senate.
“Americans deserve a car repair market that promotes choice and protects access to affordable and safe vehicle repairs,” said Justin Rzepka, executive director of the CAR Coalition. “As the right to repair movement strengthens across the country, we are thrilled to have the leadership of Sens. Josh Hawley and Ben Ray Luján on our side. The introduction of the REPAIR Act in the Senate is a huge milestone -- this bipartisan, bicameral bill ensures we are one step closer to empowering consumers with the freedom to choose safe and cost-effective repair solutions.”
Proponents of the REPAIR Act say automakers are blocking out independent repair shops and aftermarket suppliers by imposing arbitrary restrictions on who can access vehicle telematics data, steering Americans into their exclusive, more expensive repair networks, resulting in higher repair bills and fewer choices in the repair process for owners.
In April, the Auto Care Association released the results of a survey it conducted, showing 84% of independent repair shops view data access as a “top issue” facing their businesses.
“The Auto Care Association applauds Sens. Luján and Hawley for introducing the commonsense, bipartisan REPAIR Act in the Senate,” said Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of the Auto Care Association. “Thanks to their leadership, federal right to repair protections are gaining ground in both chambers of Congress. We’re committed to protecting the nearly 300 million drivers and more than 900,000 technicians in this country who depend on the $500 billion auto care industry. And we’ll do that by working together to turn the commonsense REPAIR Act into law.”
